Good morning everyone,I would like to ask your opinions about how to put into use this skill(ish). Basically I am apparently good at after hearing someone speak about this business idea or business or even life plan, saying something like "Ok, this is what I understood from what you said".I draw a couple of boxes in a blank sheet of paper, a couple of arrows here and there, and that way frame whatever issue in a useful manner for the other guy, plus map the information they have in their mind, or prioritise whatever choices they have.It really helps clarify the whole complex story they might have told me. It really comes out naturally from my head, I always thought this was something everyone could do in a way, but I noticed that these days a lot of people want to tell me their "story".For example, I was yesterday friday evening with an engineer and 3 of his buddies. The engineer is a real master of his field, but he couldnt sort of put everything he knew into paper in an orderly manner for it to be helpful to his other friends (neither could his friends). So after hearing him speak for 2 hours about the dozens of products he had in mind I went to the whiteboard and said (again) "Ok, this is what I understood, please interrupt me when I got it wrong". And it really worked! I was so happy to see the eyes really wide open saying "wow, now I get it, now I see how to organise everything"I really enjoy helping people this way. I was wondering if any of you experienced consultants think I could apply this is some particular consultancy sector. I was thinking Operations Excellence or Supply Chains? (I work in Commercial Strategy and I really dont do anything related to this)What do you think? Thanks a lot for your help, here buddies.

write a self help book. Mate, with no offense, structuring problems and organising methods are a standard characteristic of many project managers.

Fine. No offense taken.I tried not to sound a bit arrogant or conceited. I really didnt think much of this until recently anyhow.Thanks for taking the time to answer, beng.

As Beng suggests, it sounds like a core consulting skill that you could apply in a variety of fields. Not to suggest it is not a valuable skill - bringing clarity to clients business situations is a large part of the benefit consultants can bring.You could certainly exercise this skill in Operations Excellence or Supply Chain consulting - you would probably want to aim for something client-facing to maximise your chances of getting to use it. Of course, there's usually also a whole load of followup work to get everyone to agree and then implement it, but getting the client there is half the fun.

Thanks, Frank.Im happy it is something that can be used anywhere. That way I am less likely to make the wrong choice. Your point about finding client-facing roles is a very good one. Appart from Ops Excellence or Supply chain stuff, would you suggest any other lines of work?

Bit of a long shot as it depends on your interests, qualifications, industry experience, etc. but you could look at change management roles. If you have a particular understanding of engineering issues (e.g. you mention you were working with those engineers), the Supply Chain type roles could be very relevant. There are also engineering consultancies that have branched into management consulting that could give you particular opportunity to work on engineering-oriented issues.

I understand its a long shot, thanks for answering though.I actually know nothing about engineering. I am an economist. The thing with this engineer is that he found it very difficult to share what he knows with the other team members in an orderly and meaningful manner. But its just a random example which happened recently.Thanks for trying though. I understand that only I can find the answer to this question. :)I think I will do some Ops Excellence when I can, some Six Sigma and hopefully some good hardcore strategy at some point. I just want to become one of those generalists. :)Have a nice weekend, Frank! Thanks again.